---
title: "The Continuum Continues: Broad Look at Barriers to Internet Access and Use Among American Adolescents"
description: "A November 2004 survey of parents and adolescents conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that 13% of teens do not use the internet. This presentation explores the constraints on use and the non-use of the internet by American ..."
date: "2006-02-09"
authors:
  - name: "Amanda Lenhart"
    job_title: "Former Director of Teens and Technology Research at the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/amanda-lenhart/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2006/02/09/the-continuum-continues-broad-look-at-barriers-to-internet-access-and-use-among-american-adolescents/"
categories:
  - "Digital Divide"
  - "Technology Adoption"
  - "Teens & Tech"
  - "Teens & Youth"
tags:
  - "Digital Divide"
  - "Teens"
---

# The Continuum Continues: Broad Look at Barriers to Internet Access and Use Among American Adolescents

A November 2004 survey of parents and adolescents conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project data shows that 87% of American youth between the ages of 12 and 17 go online. A lower percentage of American adults use the internet—68% of those 18 and older go online. The often ignored flip-side of these data points is that 13% of teens do not use the internet, and another 32% of adults are similarly offline. This presentation explores the use and the non-use of the internet by American youth. We examine where young people access the internet—how many go online at home, at school, at work, at a friend’s or relative’s house, at a library or other public location? The presentation addresses degrees of access, reporting on the differences seen between daily internet users and those who go online infrequently--less than 1 to 2 times a week. We also explore the reasons that young people and adults give for not using the internet. Recent Pew Internet data from a May 2005 survey of adults suggests that the continuum metaphor of internet access first put forth by the Project in 2003 is still operative—17% of non-internet using adults and 47% of non-using teenagers said that they did at some point use the internet but have since stopped. Internet access is not a binary, “on/off” proposition, but is something that ebbs and flows over time. This fluidity also applies to frequency of internet use; 20% of online teens say they would like to go online more often than they do now, and more than a quarter of those young people cited difficulties with access as the reason they’re not online more often. Other non-users have the means of access, but lack the desire—15% of adult non-internet users live in wired homes where others go online, and 47% of offline youth say they’re not interested in going online.